Landscape design is not as simple as enhancing your yard by adding a few plants whenever the fancy strikes you or whenever you can find a few minutes.

Landscaping is a much larger commitment and involves careful planning, designing and development of your outdoor space while keeping in mind themain components of good landscape design. It will take a whole lot of time, a whole lot of energy and yes it will take a whole lot of money too. Is it really worth it when after all its only contribution would be its aesthetic appeal?

The truth is, we may not be able to see the other benefits that landscape design offers but it goes way beyond aesthetics. Landscaping actually increases the value and usability of your home (go here to read an article on how much landscaping increases the value of your home) in addition to offering several health and environmental benefits too.

Increases The Resale Value Of Your Home

Landscaping makes your property more attractive to potential buyers in more ways than one. It reduces the amount of time that your home remains on the “for sale” market by creating a fabulous first impression for potential buyers who are more likely to want to come back for an internal/second viewing. A well landscaped garden speaks volumes about the taste of the home owner and also shows buyers that the owners take pride in their home.

When a garden is looked after well, it gives valuable insight into how well the home is likely to be cared for as well. Not only does this increase your chances of selling your home quicker but it is sure to influence the sale price too. Landscaping gives you the competitive edge over the other properties for sale in the neighbourhood. It attracts more inspections along with better sale prices.

Increases Your Usable Living Space

If you do not have any immediate plans to sell your home, landscape design is essential to enhance the usability of your property is still a good idea. With some careful planning and clever designing, you can make use of the ample outdoor space, while still staying within all other parameters including the aesthetic appeal and your budget. Think about how you can incorporate perhaps an outdoor barbecue, picnic area or gazebo.

Take a look at a YouTube video which shows the building of a palatial outdoor eating/entertaining area click here.

Another option is to create few outdoor rooms for cooking and dining or recreation and relaxation. Think about your lifestyle and your requirements and brainstorm about how you can integrate that into your landscape design.

Even if the property your home is built on is on a gradient, you can landscape a sloping gardento increase your usable living space while also increasing the overall value of your home.

Environmental Benefits of Landscaping

When it comes to environmental benefits, the list is endless. It plays a huge role in controlling soil erosion because of the dense cover of plants and mulch that tends to hold soil in place and prevent mudslides or flooding. It also helps in reducing local flooding by holding back storm water runoff.

The expansive foliage does a lot to improve the overall air quality and reduce evaporation. Turf, shrubs and trees remove dust, smoke and other pollutants from the surrounding environment and release oxygen into the atmosphere, leaving the air around you so much purer and healthier to breathe.

For some interesting reading on how your garden improves the air quality, have a look at thisarticle from the Lung Association.

Landscaping helps moderate extremes of temperature by lowering the temperature in summer and increasing it in winter.

A careful selection of plants that suit the terrain as well as the climate is the key to good landscape design. Planning a sloping garden requires a whole different set of techniques and principles as compared to planning a garden on level ground.

Health Benefits

Oh yes, besides looking good and getting you a better resale value for your property, landscape design also offers you and your family heaps of health benefits. It creates a healthier atmosphere by acting as a natural filter and absorbing pollutants, providing cleaner air for you to breathe and also provides you much needed privacy by creating a natural screen that blocks the direct view to your home.

It also helps create a beautiful environment that can go a long way in decreasing your stress levels and increasing the soothing peaceful feeling.

Just looking at and walking around a beautiful landscaped garden can help anybody wind down after a long, hard day and when you consider the appearance of birds and butterflies, it can be a sheer delight to the senses.

Should You DIY Or Should You Hire A Professional?

This is a major consideration and one that requires careful thought.

For many home-owners their first thought is that it would be much cheaperfor them to do their own landscaping instead of hiring a professional – but is it? Unless this is something you have done before, a DIY undertaking can be unbelievably overwhelming in terms of time, knowledge and effort involved. You need to be totally committed to the job to be successful.

Ultimately, hiring a professional to help with your landscape design is actually more cost-effective when you consider that every aspect of the garden will be well thought of and you will get a quality finish that adds value to your home in every way. Contact John today.